Vanes of an impeller for axial flow propeller pumps



March 6, 1962 MASUKICHI KONDO 3,023,709

VANES OF AN IMPELLER FOR AXIAL FLOW PROPELLER PUMPS Fig! Filed May 26, 1958 M65010 0/ ka/w INVENTOR.

BY MA add X4 v 2m ATP/s.

United States Patent 3,023,709 VANES OF AN IMPELLER FOR AXIAL FLOW PROPELLER PUMPS Masukichi Kondo, 170-6 Kanno-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogoken, Japan Filed May 26, 1958, Ser. No. 737,928 2 Claims. (Cl. 10389) This invention relates to a novel type of vanes of an impeller for axial flow propeller pumps. The axially projected contour of a vane for an axial fiow propeller pump is conventionally dovetail in form, its front and trailing edges making nearly radial lines, and the ratio of radii at the tip and the root being about 2:1.

As the speed of water in an axial direction must be the same at every point on a radius, the angle of a vane is so designed that it gradually increases from the tip to the root. The theoretical head of an axial flow propeller pump can be calculated from the following formula, according to the momentum theory, when ,the ratio of radii of the tip and the root is 2:1.

COS (lg-V1 (50$ where H is theoretical head to be obtained,

U is a circumferential speed of' a point on a radius of a vane,

V and V are absolute speeds of water at the entrance and the exit of a vane, respectively, and

a and 11 are angles between the directions of V and V and the circumferential direction, respectively.

When there are no guide vanes at the entrance of water, cos a; is nearly zero, therefore the above equation be comes COS a If the shape and angle of a vane are similar on every circumferential section, the velocity of water at the root is /2 of that at the tip, as the circumferential speed U of the root is /2 of that of the tip. Therefore the heads at the tip and the root are the same as the ratio of their UV, that is 4:1.

In order to balance the heads at the tip and the root, the angles of vane at the tip and the root are required to be selected so as to make the value V cos at the root as large as twice that at the tip, so that the ratio V cos 11 U at the tip and the root becomes 1:4. This modified form of a vane, however, increases essential defects of an axial flow propeller pump as described hereinafter.

The inventor has devised a novel shape of a vane without increasing the value V cos cc U very much at the root, whereby the head at the tip and the root are balanced. The invention will be further described referring to the accompanying drawing, in which FIGURE 1 is an axially projected view of a conventional impeller for an axial flow propeller pump;

FIGURE 2 is a diagram showing the relation between head, shaft horse power and quantity of water of an axial flow propeller pump and of a. centrifugal pump, for purposes of comparison;

FIGURE 3 illustrates stream lines passing through the space between vanes, the upper ones being those for normal operation, and the lower ones being those when a delivery valve is substantially completely closed;

FIGURE 4 is an axially projected view of an impeller having vanes according to this invention;

FIGURE 5 in a section of a vane taken on-a cylindrical surface XY of FIGURE 1 and vector diagrams of water speed at the front and trailing edges; and

to decrease the quantity of water.

3,023,709 Patented Mar. 6, 1962 FIGURE 6 shows similar views at the tip and the root of a vane according to the present invention.

In an ordinary centrifugal pump, shaft horsepower is decreased when the quantity of water decreased (FIG- URE 2). However, in an axial flow propeller pump, shaft horsepower increases when a delivery valve is closed This is because in an axial flow propeller pump centrifugal force radially presses the Water which is axially flowing through the spaces between the vanes. When a delivery valve is closed, the quantity of Water decreases and the velocity of water also decreases. If the delivery valve is closed further until the quantity of water decreases beyond the point of inflexion, which separates a concave from a convex portion of a water quantity curve, the stream line flow of the water changes its form from that of the upper part to that of the lower part in FIGURE 3, and a large loss of energy is caused.

Increase of shaft-horsepower when the quantity of Water is decreased by closing a delivery valve, is an essential defect of an axial flow propeller pump. To improve this disadvantage, the ratio of speed of water passing between the vanes V cos cc to the circumferential speed U at the tip, is required to be kept small. But insofar as the ratio of speeds V cos a/ U at the tip and the root is 1:4, it is unavoidable that the speed at the root becomes too large even if the speed at the tip is kept small. This disadvantage cannot be avoided so far as a dovetail shaped vane is employed.

The relations between U, W, and V, when cos a =0 are illustrated in FIGURE 5. As before described, the theoretical head at the tip is,

H2=% UVg COS O12 and the theoretical head obtained at the root is HIT-'3 UVz' C05 062,

Where H, U, V and a are values for the root corresponding to H, U, V and a for the tip.

When the ratio of radii of the tip and the root is 2:1, U is U/2. Therefore,

H= ZJUV cos a (3) If the shape and angle of the tip and the root are similar, the water speed diagram is also similar, and as K K 2 2 and a '=cc the Equation 3 can be expressed This means that if shape and angle of the tip and root are similar, the head at the root is A of that at the tip.

FIGURE 6 shows sections of the tip and root of a vane complying with the requirements in the Formula 4. As it is seen in the Figure, the angle of vane is too sharp, the width is too large and the relative speed of flow is too large at the tip, while the angle of the vane is too large at the root. If the angle of the vane is it merely agitates water and no head is obtained, the efliciency being zero. "It must not be over 30 at the root, too. For this reason, it is impossible to satisfy the formula 4 taking the speeds in axial direction to be the same at the tip and the root.

In order to moderate the above mentioned disadvantage, and to avoid interference of the vanes, the angle of the vane is generally decreased at the root, so that conventional vanes are made in a dovetail form in an axially 3. projected view. Due to this unreasonable shape of vanes, production of counter flow circulation as illustrated in the lower part of FIGURE 3, is encouraged.

It is consideredthat the aboven entioned disadvantage can be overcome by increasing the width of a vane at the root as measured on an axially projected shape. But, if the Width of the root is increased in the forward direction of rotation, energy is received at the. root earlier hanthe p 9 ha pr d qn f ounte flow ci tion is encouraged. For thisreason, the increase of d h. l .ew h uld h ma e n h eat rddi wtion.

Assuming that the coefficient of head increasesat the tip and the root isjthe same, it is required thatthe ratio of the width X at the tip to the width X at the root (FIGURE 1) must be 2 in order to make the heads at e ip nd e mo e me- Hcwe e r p of nes in n xia y P je ed ew mu e vo nd. efore it is impossible to make the ratio X /X as larg as 2, but is limited to 1.0 to. 1.3. Whenthis ratio is taken as 1.0 to 1.3, and overlapping of adjacent vanes at the root is avqided, the trailing edge e. (FIGURE 4) of the vane, which is increa sed according. to this invention, makes a convex curve such that the angle 0 between-a radial line from the center Q of the impeller to any point P on the curve 2 and a tangent t at the point is 40 or thereabout. When this anglefis less than 20, theincrease ot the trailing edge is too small to obtain a satisfactory result.

The following results have been obtained by. experiments with pumps which employ an impeller with vanes according to this invention.

( 1) The efliciency of the pumps is increased from 5 (2) The ratio Qc/Qn of conventional pumps with dovetail vanes is generally 60 to 80%, while that of pumps with the modified vanes i s 46 to 50%. Where Qn is the quantity of Water pumpedat the highest efiiciency and Qc is that pumped at the inflexion point of the curve, that is the point C in FIGURE 2'.' This proves that the tendency to produce counter flow c irculation has been reduced.

(3 The ratio of shait horespower when the quantity of water pumped is zero to that at the highest efiiciency is called Lifteoeflicient. For dovetail vanes, this coetficient is some times over 200%, and to is considered to be a favorable value, while that of this novel vane is about 160%.

(4) The ratio Y/Yn shows the roundness of an efiiciency curve, where Ynis the-hjghest elficiency and Y is the efficiency when the quantity of water is one-half of that at th e highest efijciehey. This ratio for a dovetail vane is generally 60 to 64%, but that of the novel vane is 66 to 71%. There is no record, so far as the inventor is aware, that this-ratio is over 68 What I claim is:

n, an. x al. w iqu pump, ha mpr v m r in hYdr ul q mpel e np i ga. v e v n c ncentr c y ndric l, and ut r, p r p e d av n wi at h t t1th 9f; s mc sure vb n axial end projection of theirnpeller, from 1.0; to 1.3 timesthe width of the 109? Of the Vall and the-trailing edge of i a ue b in su nt a ly nifsinnlyconvexlycurved h a c r a ute uc tha h a ut a le. tw a radial line throughany pointon the trailing. edge and a e tc e ta i ie e ge a he. PQil as a er n 20.

' Th imptQ em n aso a medt n. la m n which then-ailing edge-has a cu fvature such that said acute angle is 40". 2

References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNIT-E12 TATESIAEFENTS. 

